PRIME MINISTER

Australia

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Prime Minister what recent discussions he has had with his Australian counterpart on (a) climate change and (b) the agenda for the G20 Leaders' Summit to be held in Brisbane in November 2014.

David Cameron: I discussed climate change policy with the Australian Prime Minister (Paul Abbott) in January this year at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos. We also discussed the G20 agenda and the need to use the G20 to secure continued and sustainable growth in the global economy.

WOMEN AND EQUALITIES

Brighton

Simon Kirby: To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities if she will bring forward proposals to relocate (a) staff and (b) offices of her Department to Brighton; and if she will make a statement.

Helen Grant: The Department has no plans to bring forward such proposals.

ELECTORAL COMMISSION COMMITTEE

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the answer of 3 April 2014, Official Report, column 766W, on electoral register, in which cases numbers of electors registered to vote in the transition from individual electoral registration will be monitored at an electoral ward level.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that it will collect and publish the results of the confirmation data matching process for all electoral wards in Great Britain. These will be available in late-summer 2014.
	The Commission also informs me that subsequently data will be collected and published at a local authority level. This will take place after the publication of the December 2014 register and at the time of the 2015 UK parliamentary general election. However, the Commission may choose to ask for more detailed ward statistics from individual Electoral Registration Officers if it has concerns around the implementation of individual electoral registration in a particular area.
	The Commission also expects electoral registration officers to be monitoring their own data on registrations at ward level, or below, throughout the transition to individual electoral registration, and to communicate them locally to elected representatives and others.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the answer of 10 April 2014, Official Report, columns 305-6W, on electoral register, if the Electoral Commission will start to collect the number of visits that ERO's staff make to individual non-responding households as part of their activities to maintain the electoral register.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that as part of its monitoring of the transition to Individual Electoral Registration (IER) it will collect data from all EROs at key stages during the transition which will demonstrate the progress EROs are making in implementing IER in their local area. This will not, however, include detailed operational information that EROs will record and monitor locally about the specific interactions they have with individual electors, including the numbers of household visits made by their staff.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what advice the Electoral Commission has given to electoral registration officers on the necessity of conducting local government data matching for the purposes of transition to individual electoral registration.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that it has published comprehensive guidance for Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) on their duties to maintain the electoral registers under Individual Electoral Registration (IER), including on using local data to identify and target potential electors and to verify and validate data held on the registers.
	The Commission also informs me that the Lord President of the Council has issued ministerial guidance on IER which EROs must, by law, have regard to. This includes guidance on using local data as part of the confirmation process of data-matching existing electors’ details and the verification process for verifying applicants’ identity.
	The Commission’s guidance, which incorporates the ministerial guidance, is available on its website at:
	http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/electoral-administrator/running-electoral-registration

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Appeals

Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the effect on industry of delays in the implementation of the Government's proposals to streamline regulatory and competition appeals.

Edward Vaizey: No such assessment has been made. Ministers are currently considering the responses received to the consultation. They will then decide the scope and extent of proposals to be implemented.

Brighton

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will bring forward proposals to relocate (a) staff and (b) offices of his Department to Brighton; and if he will make a statement.

Helen Grant: The Department has no plans to bring forward such proposals.

Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment his Department has made of whether to become a signatory to the UNESCO Convention on Underwater Cultural Heritage and the International Law of the Sea.

Edward Vaizey: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 31 March 2014, Official Report, column 463W, to the hon. Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy), regarding the UNESCO Convention on Underwater Cultural Heritage. The UK is already a State Party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Electronic Programme Guides

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the contribution by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries on 25 February 2014, Official Report, column 95WH, when the consultation on modernising the Electronic Programme Guide regime will be launched.

Edward Vaizey: Pursuant to my contribution on 25 February 2014, Official Report, column 95WH, DCMS will make an announcement on the publication date of the consultation in due course.

Freeview Service

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  what discussions he has had with Freeview about reasons to extend full Freeview services to (a) Monmouth constituency and (b) all other parts of the UK that are currently not provided with such services;
	(2)  what discussions the Government have had with representatives of Freeview about improving the number of channels on offer for people in rural areas;
	(3)  what plans the Government have to ensure that places where repeater transmitters are situated receive a full Freeview service.

Edward Vaizey: Ofcom estimates that 98.5% of UK households have access to 17 channels including those from the public service broadcasters (PSBs) on the digital terrestrial TV (DTT, or Freeview) platform, and that approximately 90% of UK households are also able to receive additional commercial DTT channels. Around 1.5% of UK households cannot easily receive DTT services with less than 0.5% not able to receive DTT services at all. However, DTT, cable and satellite digital television services together cover practically 100% of UK households, so that in all but the most exceptional of cases, everyone should be able to get digital television by one means or another. As well as subscription services, digital satellite TV offers non-subscription reception options for a one-off equipment and installation cost, but with no on-going monthly payments.
	We have had no discussions with Freeview or Digital UK, who manage the DTT platform, about extending services and there are no plans to require broadcasters to improve the DTT coverage levels agreed for digital television switchover in 2006.
	Purely commercial DTT services are not subject to the ‘near-universal’ coverage requirements which apply to PSB DTT services, and while the operators of the commercial DTT services were given the opportunity to extend their networks at the time of digital switchover, the operators determined that it was not commercially viable for them to build-out their services to additional transmitter sites.

Mobile Phones

John Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will bring forward legislative proposals to introduce a cap on data charges which can be imposed by mobile telephone operators.

Edward Vaizey: On 3 December, the Government announced they had reached agreement with the mobile network operators and other telecommunications providers1 as part of the Telecoms Consumer Action Plan2. Working with Government and Ofcom, major telecoms companies have agreed to reduce the risk of unexpectedly high bills. As a result, all of the main operators now provide ‘near data allowance’ alerts to help consumers manage their data usage. They have also increased the visibility and usability of other usage monitoring tools, such as apps. Some operators also offer spend caps to help limit any out-of-allowance charges that consumers may incur.
	In addition, customers who use data while abroad are protected by the Roaming Regulations. These limit the amount that operators can charge for data roaming within the EU. They also require all mobile operators to apply a cut-off limit once consumers have used €50 (excluding VAT) of data per month (within or outside of the EU), unless the consumer has opted for another limit. The provider must send an alert when the consumer has reached 80% and then 100% of the agreed data roaming limit, and must stop charging at the 100% point unless the consumer consents to continuing to use data.
	1 3, BT, EE, Sky, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and Vodafone
	2 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-vows-to-end-unfair-consumer-bill-and-subscription-practices

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Appeals

Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when his Department plans to publish its response to the consultation on Streamlining Regulatory and Competition Appeals launched in June 2013; and on what timetable he intends to introduce reforms arising from that consultation.

Jennifer Willott: We hope to publish the Government response before Summer. Any legislative changes we decide to make will be taken forward when parliamentary time permits.

European Space Agency

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what funding the UK has given (a) directly and (b) indirectly to the European Space Agency in each of the last five years; what that funding was for; and what assessment he has made of the benefits arising from that funding to the UK.

David Willetts: Direct UK funding of the European Space Agency (ESA) has been as follows:
	
		
			  £ million 
			 2009/10 242.8 
			 2010/11 231.1 
			 2011/12 232.0 
			 2012/13 207.6 
			 2013/14 267.5 
		
	
	In addition, national expenditure averaging £20 million a year has been expended within the UK to build and operate scientific instruments carried on spacecraft of ESA. The funding to ESA has been used to contribute to missions and technology in the fields of space science and exploration, Earth observation for science and applications, telecommunications and broadband delivery, access to microgravity facilities for life and physical sciences, space weather, navigation technologies, human spaceflight and weather monitoring. As well as resulting expenditure in the UK due to the juste retour principle, wider benefits have accrued in new scientific knowledge; and improved delivery of public services.
	ESA is the primary route for Government R&D space investment. Several economic analyses of investment impact have been undertaken, drawn together in BIS Economics Paper No. 31. The UK Space Agency (part of BIS) undertakes a biennial survey of the size and health of the UK space industry2 showing growth from £3.4 billion turnover in 1999/2000 to £9.5 billion in 2011, reflecting the results of sustained investment as well as the growth of the market.
	The UK Space Agency monitors contracts that return back to UK industry from our ESA subscriptions and also monitors where R&D work has positioned UK industry for success in larger operational contracts.
	A UK R&D investment of £15 million for the Astrium E3000 Spacecraft through the ESA telecoms programme (‘ARTES’) was more than matched by industry and resulted in the award of 41 spacecraft contracts worth over £600 million to UK industry, an un-discounted ROI of over 30. Analysis has shown that the return on investment from UK ARTES programmes ranges from 2 to 30 with an average of 6:1. The UK Space Agency also works with the OECD to pool analysis of benefits from space funding as reflected in the OECD Handbook on Measuring the Space Economy3.
	The scientific programmes of ESA directly contribute to UK academic excellence. The ‘Wakeham Review of Physics’4 reported to government that in terms of impact (citations) in the space sciences, the UK “is second to the USA and well separated from the following pack”. Data from satellites such as ESA’s Cryosat 2 have directly informed the IPCC 5th Assessment on climate change5.
	An example of a public service benefit space investment is the weather forecast. The Met Office (also part of BIS) has undertaken analysis showing that satellites have made the greatest impact in improving weather prediction among available observing techniques6 “accounting for 64% of short-range global forecast error reduction”. Of all the nine data sources used, the new European Metop satellite has made the largest single impact: “about 25% of the total impact on global forecast error reduction”.
	1 http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.berr.gov. uk/files/file54519.PDF
	2 http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/ukspaceagency/docs/industry/size-and-health-report-oct-2012.pdf
	3 http://www.oecd.org/futures/oecdhandbookonmeasuringthe spaceeconomy.htm
	4 http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/RCUK-prod/assets/documents/reviews/physics/review.pdf
	5 https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1
	6 http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/media/pdf/9/m/FRTR562.pdf

Hospitals: Dorset

Liz Kendall: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the cost of the Competition Commission's inquiry into the proposed merger between Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals Foundation Trust and Poole Hospital Foundation Trust.

Jennifer Willott: The Competition Commission’s cost for the inquiry into the proposed merger between Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals Foundation Trust and Poole Hospital Foundation Trust was £710,000. This amount includes the cost of the staff on the inquiry amounting to £639,000 and direct costs of £71,000 (including survey costs).

Motor Vehicles: Petrol Alternatives

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what plans he has to encourage car manufacturers to manufacture cars powered by road fuel gases for the UK market.

Michael Fallon: We want the UK to be at the forefront of the design, development, manufacture and use of low emission vehicles, delivering economic growth opportunities and contributing to the decarbonisation of road transport.
	As part of the Automotive Industrial Strategy, Government and industry will invest about £1 billion over the next 10 years in an Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) to research, develop and commercialise the next generation of low carbon technologies. The APC is technology neutral, so can support new road fuel gas technologies if they offer significant low carbon advantages. This investment will secure up to 30,000 jobs. The Government will allocate £100 million for Ultra low emission vehicle-specific research and development for the period 2015-20 as part of the £500 million OLEV package. This represents an increase of over 20% in support from the previous package (which was £82 million over the period 2010-15).
	We have also allocated £4 million to ensure the UK has the gas refuelling facilities HGVs need to support our freight and logistics operators in their efforts to reduce the environmental impact of their business.

Student Loans Company

Julian Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what audit he has made of the performance of the Student Loans Company.

David Willetts: Each year the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the devolved Administrations set Student Loans Company (SLC) stretching performance measures which are confirmed in an Annual Performance and Resource Agreement (APRA) letter. BIS closely monitors SLC’s performance against these measures throughout the year. Monitoring arrangements include formal quarterly reviews of SLC's performance which are conducted by Ministers and senior officials.
	Each year the SLC publishes externally audited information on its performance in its annual report and accounts. The APRA letter and SLC’s annual report and accounts are available on SLC's website:
	http://www.slc.co.uk/

CABINET OFFICE

Construction: Industry

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many people were employed in the construction sector in (a) the UK, (b) the East Midlands, (c) Nottinghamshire and (d) Ashfield constituency in each of the last five years.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many people were employed in the construction sector in (a) the UK, (b) the East Midlands, (c) Nottinghamshire and (d) Ashfield constituency in each of the last five years. (197307)
	Annual employment statistics are available from the Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES). Table 1 below contains estimates of the number of employees employed in businesses in the construction sector for Ashfield Constituency, Nottinghamshire, the East Midlands and Great Britain between 2008 and 2012, the most recent year that figures are available. The 2013 provisional (and 2012 revised) BRES estimates will be published on 25th September 2014. Estimates for Great Britain have been provided as UK based estimates are not available on a consistent basis.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at:
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
	
		
			 Table 1: Employees between 2008 and 2012 for construction 
			  Ashfield constituency Nottinghamshire East Midlands Great Britain 
			 2008 3,700 19,900 102,000 1,364,200 
			      
			 2009 3,700 21,200 101,600 1,334,300 
			 2010 3,400 17,100 86,000 1,229,600 
			 2011 3,600 19,100 93,300 1,216,500 
			 2012 3,400 16,100 80,800 1,193,900 
			 Notes: 1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. 2. Comparable UK figures are not available. 3. There is a small discontinuity between the 2008 and 2009-2012 estimates, relating to data source and methodological differences.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Abortion

Steven Baker: To ask the Attorney-General what discussions he has had with the Crown Prosecution Service about the pre-signing of abortion forms.

Dominic Grieve: I have had no recent specific discussions with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) about the pre-signing of abortion forms. I am aware, though, that the CPS has had discussions with the Department of Health on this and I await the outcome of these.

Abortion

Julian Brazier: To ask the Attorney-General what discussions he has had with the Crown Prosecution Service about the 67 doctors who are accused of pre-signing abortion referral (HSA1) certificates.

Dominic Grieve: I have had no specific discussions with the Crown Prosecution Service about pre-signing of abortion forms by the 67 doctors.

Consultants

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Attorney-General which 10 consultancy firms were paid the most by the Law Officers' Departments in the last financial year; and how much each of those firms was paid.

Oliver Heald: In 2013-14 Professor Shute was paid £2,286.30 and Dr Tapley was paid £1,735.70 for consultancy services to HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI). There has been no other consultancy spend within that financial year by HMCPSI, the Treasury Solicitor’s Department or the Attorney-General’s Office.
	The two companies listed below are the only organisations to have been paid by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) for consultancy work during the last financial year.
	SCC—£32,316
	CIO Partnership Ltd—£2,100.
	In addition, two individuals carried out consultancy work for the SFO. The total amount paid for this work was £13,812.
	The following table details payments made by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to consultancy firms during the last financial year.
	
		
			  £ 
			 Evolve Business Consultancy 74,319 
			 Saville Consulting UK Ltd Surrey 22,008 
			 Triad Group Plc Surrey 19,260 
			 Deloitte LLP Milton Keynes 9,661 
			 Hay Group Management Limited 7,200 
			 LA International Computer Consultants Ltd 6,398 
			 ASE Consulting Ltd Lancashire 4,995 
			 Enquin Environmental Ltd Cardiff 4,110 
			 HR Lounge Ltd London Total 3,180 
			 Long and Partners Commissioning Consultancy Ltd 2,010 
		
	
	This information has been produced from the CPS accounting system, analysing spend against account codes for consultancy and professional services. Expenditure may include some payments for services not covered by the Crown Commercial Service Consultancy Value Programme definition of consultancy but provided by companies categorised as a consultancy firm. Excluded are payments for professional services supplied by third parties not classified as a consultancy firm, such as employment agencies, training providers, solicitors, ICT managed service suppliers and freelance consultants engaged directly by the Department.

Crown Prosecution Service

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General how much the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has spent on staff overtime payments in each CPS area in each of the last five financial years.

Oliver Heald: The total amount spent on overtime payments by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in each of the last five years by CPS area is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Overtime payments in the CPS by area between 2009-10 and 2013-14 
			 £ 
			  2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 
			 Headquarters 144,262 96,501 83,876 94,432 70,229 
			 Casework 21,754 33,838 31,187 107,198 270,687 
			 CPS Direct 14,700 12,255 5,363 643 8,458 
			 Cymru Wales area 4,566 4,646 552 4,009 20,738 
			 East Midlands area 63,249 25,724 11,567 13,090 116,402 
			 East of England area 25,026 13,227 5,223 16,935 9,659 
			 London area 239,165 185,651 299,986 1,813,590 3,098,987 
			 Merseyside and Cheshire area 8,828 16,882 4,047 24,095 38,669 
			 North East area 59,981 70,553 53,665 45,448 64,732 
			 North West area 155,124 186,415 207,895 210,403 283,753 
			 South East area 86,290 57,507 41,483 120,212 164,759 
			 South West area 4,599 952 216 13,022 19,213 
			 Thames and Chiltern area 28,142 26,816 75,171 63,002 97,399 
			 Wessex area 5,598 2,305 4,317 1,434 35,672 
			 West Midlands area 15,445 29,667 16,834 10,823 45,221 
			 Yorkshire and Humberside area 192,538 15,686 56,680 218,192 255,737 
			 Total 1,069,266 778,626 898,060 2,756,527 4,600,314

Employment Agencies

Christopher Leslie: To ask the Attorney-General which five companies were used most often to provide temporary workers for the Law Officers' Departments in the last financial year; and how much in agency fees was paid to each of them.

Oliver Heald: The following table lists the top five companies used by the Treasury Solicitor’s Department (TSol), to provide temporary workers in 2013-14, by expenditure. TSol financial systems do not distinguish between the costs of temporary workers and the associated agency fee. TSol data also cover any expenditure incurred by HM Crown Prosecution Service inspectorate and the Attorney-General’s Office.
	
		
			 Firm Amount spent1 (£) 
			 Capita Resourcing Ltd (Staff) 5,404,407 
			 Kelly Services (UK) Ltd 1,711,926 
			 Experis (Elan Computing Ltd) 634,916 
			 Hudson 347,834 
			 Methods Consulting Ltd 168,256 
			 1 Net of VAT. 
		
	
	The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has spent the following amounts with four companies during 2013-14 in relation to the provision of temporary workers. The expenditure includes the cost of temporary staff. It is not possible to separately identify the agency element of the payments.
	
		
			 Firm Amount spent 1 (£) 
			 Brook Street (UK) Ltd 99,423 
			 Reed Employment Plc 52,718 
			 Badenoch and Clark 31,739 
			 Hays Accountancy Personnel 19,832 
			 1 Including VAT. 
		
	
	This information has been produced from the CPS accounting system.
	The following table lists the top five companies used by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to provide temporary workers in 2013-14, by expenditure. SFO financial systems do not distinguish between the costs of temporary workers and any associated agency fee.
	
		
			 Firm Amount spent1 (£) 
			 Adecco 942,075 
			 Alvarez and Marsal 609,499 
			 Crowe Clarke Whitehill 590,264 
			 Mazars LLP 567,627 
			 FTI Consultancy 207,354 
			 1 Including VAT.

Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General whether the Serious Fraud Office has applied to HM Treasury for additional funding for its investigation into the Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation.

Oliver Heald: The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has a core budget to investigate and, where appropriate, prosecute the most serious and complex cases of fraud, bribery and corruption, and some exceptionally large cases will arise that require additional resources. However, it is not in the public interest to specify in detail what resources the SFO intends to dedicate to each case.

JUSTICE

Conditions of Employment

Pamela Nash: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the answer of 10 June 2013, Official Report, column 93W, on conditions of employment, how many people in his Department were employed on zero-hour contracts in each of the last two years up to the most recent period for which records are available.

Jeremy Wright: Information on the number of staff employed on zero-hour contracts in the Ministry of Justice is set out in the following table. The figures refer to staff in Her Majesty’s Court and Tribunal Service and National Offender Management Service, as these are the only parts of the Ministry where zero-hour contracts have been used.
	
		
			 As at 1 April to 31 March each year Headcount 
			 2010-11 1238 
			 2011-12 1218 
			 2012-13 1172 
			 2013-14 2153 
			 1 HMCTS. 2 146 HMCTS + 7 NOMS. 
		
	
	The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is undertaking a review of zero hours policy and practice, and in the light of this work Cabinet Office will ascertain whether any changes need to be made to UK procurement policy.

Courts: Buildings

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many court buildings which were not counted as closed had no cases listed in the preceding (a) three, (b) six and (c) 12 months at 31 March 2014; and what the location was of each such building;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the annual cost to the public purse of maintaining court buildings which are not listed as closed and which have no cases listed for (a) three, (b) six and (c) 12 months;
	(3)  what estimate he has made of the annual cost to the public purse of maintaining court buildings which are not listed as closed and which had fewer than five cases listed each week for (a) three, (b) six and (c) 12 months;
	(4)  how many court buildings which were not counted as closed had fewer than five cases listed for each week in the preceding (a) three, (b) six and (c) 12 months at 31 March 2014; and what the location was of each such building.

Jeremy Wright: Providing a detailed response to these questions will require officials to manually collate data. This cannot be accomplished in the time available. The Under-Secretary of State for Justice, my hon. Friend the Member for North West Cambridgeshire (Mr Vara), will therefore write with a detailed response as soon as possible, and will place a copy of this letter in the Library of the House.

High Down Prison

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many prisoners in HM Prison High Down on 1 April 2014 there were (a) in total, (b) aged under 18, (c) aged 18 to 20 and (d) aged 21 or over;
	(2)  how many young adult prisoners were held in HM Prison High Down on 1 April (a) 2011, (b) 2012, (c) 2013 and (d) 2014.

Jeremy Wright: Data are held centrally on the prison population on the last day of each month, so figures have been provided as at 31 March. Table 1 provides the population by age group and Table 2 for those prisoners classed as young adults (18 to 20-year-olds).
	
		
			 Table 1: Population of HMP High Down by age group, 31st March 2014, England and Wales 
			  Number 
			 Under 18 0 
			 18-20 87 
			 21 and Over 1,034 
			 All 1,121 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Population of HMP High Down that are young adults1, as at 31 March 2011-14, England and Wales 
			  2011 2012 2013 2014 
			 All 119 80 80 87 
			 1 Young adults are those aged 18-20. 
		
	
	These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he intends to reply to the letter to him dated 24 March 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr Sherratt.

Jeremy Wright: The letter from the right hon. Member to the Secretary of State for Justice was transferred to the Department for Education for a response.

Police Cautions: Brigg

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many police cautions were issued in Brigg and Goole constituency in each of the last five years.

Damian Green: Information on cautions is not held by parliamentary constituency.

Prison Service

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the ratio of prison officers to inmates by gender was in each (a) prison establishment and (b) category of prison in England and Wales in each of the last five years.

Jeremy Wright: Information on the ratio of prisoners to prison officers has been provided previously to the right hon. Member for Tooting (Sadiq Khan). I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given on 4 March 2014, Official Report, column 805W.
	It is not possible to calculate a meaningful ratio of prisoners to staff based on gender. Any officer to prisoner ratio must take account of all available staffing, of either gender, in order to realistically represent the level of staffing.

Prison Service

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many days in total have been lost due to staff sickness in each prison in each of the last four years.

Jeremy Wright: Sickness absence is measured as the average working days lost per staff year, which is the measure used across all Government Departments. Sickness rates in adult prisons have fallen over the last 10 years and remain below the rate of 14.8 days lost, across public sector adult prisons, in 2002-03.
	Figures for average working days lost for prisons in the public and contracted sectors are used in the Prison Rating System and have been published annually since 2011-12 as part of the data set that accompanies the published ratings.
	Figures for 2012-13 can be found on the ‘Data' sheet of the published spreadsheet at the following location:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/225231/prs-data-12-13.xls'
	Figures for 2011-12 are available here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/218342/prison-rating-system-2011-12.xls,
	Figures for 2010-11 can be seen in the following table.
	
		
			 Table: Average number of working days lost per member of staff due to sickness related absence in adult prisons in England and Wales, 2010-11 
			 Establishment Average working days lost1 
			 Acklington 12.8 
			 Ashfield 8.1 
			 Ashwell 10.4 
			 Askham Grange 10.2 
			 Aylesbury 12.5 
			 Bedford 8.1 
			 Belmarsh 10.4 
			 Birmingham 10.7 
			 Blantyre House 6.1 
			 Blundeston 11.7 
			 Brinsford 12.1 
			 Bristol 7.9 
			 Brixton 10.5 
			 Bronzefield 10.6 
			 Buckley Hall 10.2 
			 Bullingdon 11.2 
		
	
	
		
			 Bullwood Hall 9.3 
			 Bure 8.4 
			 Canterbury 10.3 
			 Cardiff 10.5 
			 Castington 9.9 
			 Channings Wood 7.9 
			 Chelmsford 10.4 
			 Coldingley 8.4 
			 Cookham Wood 18.1 
			 Dartmoor 11.9 
			 Deerbolt 9.7 
			 Doncaster 8.2 
			 Dorchester 9.1 
			 Dovegate2 9.0 
			 Dover 8.4 
			 Downview 10.5 
			 Drake Hall 8.3 
			 Durham 12.2 
			 East Sutton Park 10.3 
			 Eastwood Park 10.5 
			 Edmunds Hill 11.8 
			 Elmley 12.5 
			 Erlestoke 11.4 
			 Everthorpe 8.8 
			 Exeter 12.5 
			 Featherstone 7.9 
			 Feltham 11.7 
			 Ford 14.4 
			 Forest Bank 8.5 
			 Foston Hall 10.8 
			 Frankland 9.0 
			 Full Sutton 9.4 
			 Garth 10.7 
			 Gartree 8.7 
			 Glen Parva 4.5 
			 Gloucester 9.1 
			 Grendon 8.5 
			 Guys Marsh 9.2 
			 Haslar 12.0 
			 Haverigg 11.9 
			 Hewell 11.3 
			 High Down 11.5 
			 Highpoint 10.8 
			 Hindley 15.4 
			 Hollesley Bay 5.3 
			 Holloway 14.2 
			 Holme House 11.0 
			 Hull 7.3 
			 Huntercombe 11.0 
			 Isis 7.3 
			 Isle of Wight 11.5 
			 Kennet 11.1 
			 Kingston 8.9 
			 Kirkham 12.3 
			 Kirklevington Grange 11.5 
			 Lancaster Castle 10.3 
			 Lancaster Farms 12.5 
			 Latchmere House 15.0 
			 Leeds 8.9 
			 Leicester 6.6 
		
	
	
		
			 Lewes 15.1 
			 Leyhill 10.2 
			 Lincoln 8.3 
			 Lindholme 11.2 
			 Littlehey 11.2 
			 Liverpool 16.7 
			 Long Lartin 5.7 
			 Low Newton 10.6 
			 Lowdham Grange2 5.6 
			 Maidstone 11.5 
			 Manchester 9.3 
			 Moorland 10.1 
			 Morton Hall 7.2 
			 Mount 8.1 
			 New Hall 13.3 
			 North Sea Camp 7.3 
			 Northallerton 10.1 
			 Norwich 9.1 
			 Nottingham 9.4 
			 Onley 8.7 
			 Pentonville 12.2 
			 Peterborough 9.9 
			 Portland 12.1 
			 Preston 9.3 
			 Ranby 8.0 
			 Reading 13.3 
			 Risley 8.6 
			 Rochester 11.4 
			 Send 7.4 
			 Sheppey Clustered Services 5.2 
			 Sheppey Reducing Re-Offending 10.3 
			 Shepton Mallet 9.1 
			 Shrewsbury 10.5 
			 Spring Hill 9.7 
			 Stafford 10.0 
			 Standford Hill 14.4 
			 Stocken 11.2 
			 Stoke Heath 11.0 
			 Styal 12.9 
			 Sudbury 6.2 
			 Swaleside 11.9 
			 Swansea 9.3 
			 Swinfen Hall 8.5 
			 Thorn Cross 9.9 
			 Usk 7.4 
			 Verne 10.6 
			 Wakefield 5.8 
			 Wandsworth 10.1 
			 Warren Hill 12.5 
			 Wayland 7.9 
			 Wealstun 9.1 
			 Wellingborough 9.8 
			 Werrington 6.8 
			 Wetherby 8.9 
			 Whatton 8.7 
			 Whitemoor 6.4 
			 Winchester 12.3 
			 Woodhill 7.2 
			 Wormwood Scrubs 7.9 
		
	
	
		
			 Wymott 11.2 
			 1 Average Working Days Lost is calculated as the number of full time equivalent days lost due to sickness related absence divided by the average number of full time equivalent staff in post. 2 Figures for Dovegate and Lowdham Grange were provided by private contractors for calendar year 2010 instead of for financial year 2010-11. Note: Figures for 2013-14 will be published on 31 July 2014 in the Management Information Addendum to the NOMS Annual Report 2013-14.

Prison Service

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the staff turnover rate has been in (a) the prison estate and (b) HM Prison High Down in each month since September 2013.

Jeremy Wright: The monthly staff turnover rate is calculated as leavers divided by number of staff in post at the beginning of the month. Figures on staff turnover are shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Staff turnover rate at (i) High Down and (ii) all Prison Service establishments in England and Wales, between September and December 2013 
			 Prison Service establishment Month Leavers (number) Staff in post (number) Turnover rate (percentage) 
			 High Down September 2013 40 430 9.5 
			  October 2013 10 430 2.1 
			  November 2013 1— 380 0.3 
			  December 2013 1— 380 0.0 
			      
			 All prisons September 2013 1,270 43,630 2.9 
			  October 2013 440 43,500 1.0 
			  November 2013 320 42,320 0.8 
			  December 2013 330 42,560 0.8 
			 1 Denotes suppressed values of 5 or fewer. Low numbers are suppressed, in conjunction with the rounding policy in line with the Department’s policy for presenting staffing statistics. Notes: 1. Staffing numbers, which are derived from a dynamic administrative system, have been rounded to the nearest 10 to reflect the level of uncertainty in the figures. 2. Staff turnover rates include staff on both fixed-term and permanent contracts. 3. Information on staff turnover is available only up to December 2013.

Prisons: Alcoholic Drinks

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many illegal stills or other set ups for distilling or brewing alcohol have been found in each institution in the prison estate in England and Wales in each year since 2010.

Jeremy Wright: The possession of alcohol or alcohol producing equipment is prohibited within prisons. Prisons carry out security operations to detect and remove such items and any prisoner caught with alcohol, or caught under the influence of alcohol, can receive up to 42 additional days in prison.
	While finds of such equipment are recorded on a central incident reporting system, to determine the number of such finds since 2010 would require a manual analysis of over 40,000 incident reports which could be done only at disproportionate cost.

Prisons: Crimes of Violence

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what steps he is taking to prevent offenders receiving compensation for assault which occurred during their incarceration;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the amount of compensation paid to offenders for assaults which took place during their incarceration in each of the last four years;
	(3)  if he will make it his policy that compensation awarded to prisoners is put towards legal costs and compensation for victims.

Jeremy Wright: Prisoners can pursue civil litigation claims for any assault in prison, but we robustly defend all cases as far as the evidence allows. Each case is dealt with on its own merits and we successfully defend two-thirds of claims brought by prisoners. In those occasions where compensation is awarded to an individual, the law requires that it be paid direct to them and cannot be used for other purposes.
	The most effective way to reduce compensation is to reduce violence and the National Offender Management Service has clear policy in place to achieve this. The most recent statistics show prisoner assaults falling, and at their lowest for many years. Notwithstanding this reduction, a comprehensive review of the management of violence is being undertaken and improved guidance will be implemented later this year.
	The following table shows the total compensation paid to prisoners following assaults by other prisoners over the last four financial years as a result of civil claims, by way of out of Court settlement or by Court award. The figures exclude private prisons. The figures are drawn from financial management information and as with any large scale recording system data may be subject to possible error in entry and processing of transactions against accounting code.
	
		
			 Financial year Amount paid (£) 
			 2012-13 120,000 
			 2011-12 119,359 
			 2010-11 187,867 
			 2009-10 224,114

Prisons: Employment

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what amount was generated by levies under the Prisoners' Earnings Act 1996 Levy in each of the last four years;
	(2)  how many prisoners were subjected to levies under the Prisoners' Earnings Act 1996 in each of the last four years.

Jeremy Wright: The Prisoners’ Earnings Act (PEA) commenced on 26 September 2011. Information for October 2011 to March 2012 was published in the ‘NOMS Annual Report 2011-12: Management Information Addendum’ in July 2012, which can be accessed via the following link to the Gov.uk website:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/218333/noms-annual-report-2011-12-addendum.pdf
	Figures for the full financial year 2012-13 were published in the 2012-13 edition of the Addendum at the following location:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/225225/mi-addendum.pdf
	Figures for 2013-14 will be published on 31 July.

Prisons: Mobile Phones

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the level of illegal use of cellular devices in UK prisons; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Wright: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) takes the issue of mobile phones in prisons very seriously and is committed to addressing the risks they present to both the security of prisons and the safety of the public.
	NOMS has implemented a multi-layer approach: to minimise the number of mobile phones entering prisons, to find phones that do get in and to disrupt mobile phones that cannot be found. A range of technology has been rolled out to prisons to strengthen searching and security, including portable mobile phone signal detectors, Body Orifice Security Scanners (BOSS chairs), high sensitivity metal detecting wands and short range portable mobile phone blockers.
	In 2012, prisons reported 7,301 seizures1 of mobile phones and/or SIM cards. All figures provided have been drawn from live administrative data systems which may be amended at any time. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system.
	1 One seizure may constitute a handset containing one SIM card or media card, a handset only, or a SIM card only.

Prisons: Mobile Phones

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans he has to roll out mobile telephone blocking technology across HM prisons estate.

Jeremy Wright: The National Offender Management Service is committed to addressing the risks that mobile phones present in prisons. Part of its response is to deploy technology in prisons that prevents mobile phones from working.
	In 2012, the Government enacted the Prisons (Interference with Wireless Telegraphy) Act 2012. The Act places the use of mobile phone signal interference technology in prisons on a clear legal footing, enabling maximum use of such technology and to enable private prisons to use it.
	A number of prisons are equipped with ‘fixed’ (as opposed to ‘portable’) signal interference technology. Since 21 October 2013, around 300 short-range portable blockers have been deployed to 88 public sector prisons.

Prisons: Postal Services

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many prisoners have been (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted for receiving each type of illicit or unauthorised items into prison through the post in each of the last four years;
	(2)  how many people have been (a) prosecuted and (b) convicted for sending illicit or unauthorised items through the post to prisoners in establishments in England and Wales in each of the last four years;
	(3)  how many prisoners were charged with receiving illicit or unauthorised items through the post in each of the last four years.

Jeremy Wright: Prisons employ a range of measures to detect, disrupt and deter the trafficking of illicit items into prisons. Any contraband detected coming into the prison will be recorded on a central incident reporting system. However, to identify the manner in which the contraband entered the prison and any subsequent referral to the police would require a manual interrogation of incident reports. This could be achieved only at disproportionate cost.
	Information on prosecutions and convictions for these offences is not held centrally and could be obtained only by asking each prison to source information locally. This, again, could be achieved only at disproportionate cost.

Prisons: Postal Services

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prison staff were allocated to the handling, processing and checking of prisoners' post, in each prison, on 1 April in each of the last four years.

Jeremy Wright: The levels of staff in each prison allocated to handling, processing and checking of prisoners’ post varies according to the security category and size of each prison and is not recorded centrally. To determine the numbers of staff engaged in this activity for the periods in question could only be determined by asking each prison to calculate these numbers using historic records. This cannot be done without incurring disproportionate cost.

Prisons: Postal Services

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the answer of 10 April 2014, Official Report, column 406W, on prisons: postal services, how many incidents of (a) drug-related or (b) miscellaneous contraband were found in post received by prisoners in (A) 2010, (B) 2011, (C) 2012 and (D) 2013.

Jeremy Wright: All finds of contraband, whether found in post or otherwise, are recorded on a central incident reporting system under the drug-related or the miscellaneous incident categories. In order to establish the number of occasions, in each of the last four years, where contraband had been found in post sent to prisoners, would require the examination of over 62,000 individual electronic incident files. This could be achieved only at disproportionate cost.

Prisons: Publications

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many packages containing books were received by prisoners in each of the last four years; and what proportion of such packages contained contraband.

Jeremy Wright: Following the introduction of the revised Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) national policy framework in November 2013, prisoners are not allowed to receive parcels sent to them. Prisoners are able to order books from reputable suppliers which they can receive via the prison shop, or they can borrow books from the prison library. This limits the opportunity for contraband to be sent into the prison and reduces the operational resource required to search all packages received in the prison.
	The number of packages received by prisoners, prior to the introduction of the revised IEP national policy framework, is not recorded centrally and could be collated only at disproportionate cost.

Probation

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on how many occasions probation staff have taken cases to employment tribunals on grounds of discrimination in each of the last three years.

Jeremy Wright: Data on the number of claims made by probation staff on the grounds of discrimination are not collated centrally either by the National Offenders Management Service or HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS). This information could be provided only at a disproportionate cost by manually checking hard copy files or judgments.

Probation

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the implications of an increase in the need for court reports arising from his Transforming Rehabilitation agenda on the workload of court staff.

Jeremy Wright: We do not anticipate that Transforming Rehabilitation will have a substantial impact on the number of pre-sentence reports written. The National Probation Service (NPS) will continue to offer same-day reports where possible and to work closely with the courts to minimise adjournments.
	By expanding post-release supervision for those sentenced to under 12-months, this cohort of offenders will now benefit from rehabilitative activity who were previously excluded, but this will not impact on pre-sentence court activity.
	The new Risk of Serious Recidivism (RSR) tool will be used to inform the allocation of cases to new Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) or the NPS and complements the pre-sentence report process. The RSR is straightforward to use and will support the identification of the likelihood of an offender committing serious re-offending in the future. We will ensure that CRCs work closely with the NPS so that cases are brought before the courts speedily and effectively.

Secure Colleges

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent representations he has received from HM Chief Inspector of Prisons about his plans to introduce secure colleges.

Jeremy Wright: In April 2013 Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) submitted a response to the Government's Transforming Youth Custody consultation, which set out our proposals for secure colleges.
	The Government value the important role HMIP performs in inspecting custodial establishments. We are therefore legislating in the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill for HMIP, along with Ofsted, to have a duty to inspect secure colleges.
	On 10 March 2014, I met with the Chief Inspector of Prisons and the Government’s proposals for secure colleges were discussed. In addition, my officials have had, and continue to have, discussions with the Chief Inspector's staff in order to develop, in conjunction with Ofsted, arrangements for the inspection of secure colleges.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Leasehold Advisory Service

Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  if he will direct the Leasehold Advisory Service to cease carrying advertising for or links to the services of Benjamin Mire or Trust Property Management;
	(2)  if he will direct the Leasehold Advisory Service to co-operate with the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership and the Campaign Against Retirement Leasehold Exploitation on providing advice to leaseholders.

Kris Hopkins: My hon. Friend raises a serious matter. In July 2013, Mr Benjamin Mire resigned from his (part-time) judicial post on the Southern Residential Property Tribunal following a conduct investigation by the Ministry of Justice, but prior to the conclusion of the formal disciplinary process.
	Mr Mire is chief executive of Trust Property Management, a firm of chartered surveyors and managing agents. The issue raised is whether this company should continue to be advertised on LEASE’s (the Leasehold Advisory Service) practitioners’ list.
	The practitioner list is not meant to be a fully comprehensive list, nor does inclusion constitute a recommendation by LEASE. Firms pay a fee to be entered on the list and sign a contract accordingly.
	In considering a recent complaint on this issue, LEASE undertook a careful review of their terms and conditions in relation to inclusion in their professional directory. This has resulted in amendments being made, and revised terms and conditions have been published on their website.
	The revised terms and conditions give LEASE the right to temporarily remove an organisation’s directory information from the directory if a complaint is received from a third party relating to the organisation or its listing. They also give LEASE the right to terminate the contract with immediate effect by giving written notice if a number of conditions are not met, these include:
	“The inclusion of the organisation’s directory information on the directory conflicts with LEASE Conferences Ltd or the Leasehold Advisory Service’s purposes, objectives or obligations or brings LEASE into disrepute or there is a risk (in our reasonable opinion) of any such conflict or bringing into disrepute.”
	If Trust Property Management does not meet the new terms and conditions when their contract for inclusion in the directory is due for renewal in July, then they will be removed, as will any other organisation which similarly does not meet the revised terms and conditions.
	While I appreciate that this may not be as quick a step as my hon. Friend would wish, moving forward, I hope these actions taken will in due course ensure the continued integrity of the practitioners’ list. I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend if he wishes to discuss this further.

Public Libraries

Gavin Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department is taking to protect library services.

Edward Vaizey: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
	Together with other public services, local authorities are rising to the challenge of delivering and developing the library service, with many reviewing and re-shaping their library offer. Some changes have been made in response to the ongoing funding environment to which all public services are making their contribution to savings. But many changes have also been made because individual authorities are looking at better ways of delivering a range of services so that they are fit for the present and the future. Details of the various developments in library services in England, including a range of innovative approaches to the task of delivering a comprehensive and efficient service, are set out in the annual report to Parliament during 2012-13 and can be accessed at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/report-under-the-public-libraries-and-museums-act-1964-for-201213

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Electricity: Investment

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to his oral contribution of 2 April 2014, Official Report, column 908, on energy price freeze, how much investment there was in (a) renewable and (b) non-renewable sources of electricity in each year between 1997 and 2013.

Michael Fallon: We are not aware of a single data series that is currently available which covers investment in the electricity sector, broken down between renewable and non-renewable sources, from 1997 to 2013.
	As part of the analysis to support the DECC Investment Report, we have estimated investment in the electricity sector since 2010. Our updated estimates of the investment in renewable and non-renewable electricity generation for the years since 2010 are as follows:
	
		
			 Investment (£ billion, real 2012 prices) 
			  2010 2011 2012 2013 
			 Renewable generation 4.5 6.9 8.4 9.2 
			 Non-renewable generation 1.1 0.9 0.5 0.1 
			 Total generation 5.5 7.7 8.9 9.3 
			 Note: Figures may not sum due to rounding.

Energy: Competition

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to his oral contribution of 2 April 2014, Official Report, column 909, on energy price freeze, what the evidential basis is for the statement that independents' share of the retail market has increased from one per cent in 2010 to five per cent.

Michael Fallon: Data from Ofgem show that independent suppliers’ share of the domestic retail energy market in December 2010 was just under 1%.1 Further data published in Ofgem’s State of the Market Assessment show that their share of the market had grown to just over 5% by January 2014.2 This figure is supported by data from a report compiled by Cornwall Energy for Energy UK on competition in the British household energy supply markets, which state that in January 2014 the independents’ share of the domestic retail energy market was just over 5% for both electricity and gas.3
	1The independents’ share of the retail electricity market was 0.6%; for gas it was 0.5%. See Ofgem (2011) ‘2011 Great Britain and Northern Ireland National Reports to the European Commission’ (pdf), available at:
	http://www.energy-regulators.eu/portal/page/portal/EER_HOME/EER_PUBLICATIONS/NATIONAL_REPORTS/National%20Reporting%202011/NR_En/C11_NR_UK-EN.pdf
	2 This figure is based on Meter Point Administration Data from Distribution Network Operators. See Ofgem (2014) ‘State of the Market Assessment’, pp.7-9 (pdf), available at:
	https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/86804/assessmentdocumentpublished.pdf
	3 See: http://www.energy-uk.org.uk/press-releases/competition-in-energy-increasing.html

Energy: Competition

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the oral answer of 3 April 2014, Official Report, column 982, on energy markets: competition, what measures his Department has introduced to deregulate the energy market since 2010.

Michael Fallon: DECC keeps all its regulations under review to ensure that they are necessary, proportionate, and have the lowest possible cost on business, while protecting environmental and consumer needs. The Department reviewed all its regulations in the Red Tape Challenge Energy and Environment themes and identified 125 to be scrapped or improved by the end of this Parliament.
	In addition, the Department has reduced the regulatory burden for small domestic suppliers by raising the customer number threshold at which suppliers must comply with certain Government schemes from 50,000 customers set by the previous Government to 250,000. Since raising the threshold 11 new companies have entered the market.

Green Deal Scheme: Wales

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many companies are registered to provide Green Deal assessments in Wales.

Gregory Barker: The Green Deal Oversight and Regulation Body (ORB) produces publically available information on the supply chain. The latest information is available by using the search tool at:
	http://gdorb.decc.gov.uk/
	These organisations operate in different geographical locations and provide a wide variety of offers to consumers. Table 1.16 of the Department’s quarterly Official Statistics release shows the self-reported operational coverage of assessor organisations by local authority that they are expecting to operate within:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/green-deal-energy-company-obligation-eco-and-insulation-levels-in-great-britain-quarterly-report-to-december-2013

Green Deal Scheme: Wales

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many Green Deal assessments have been undertaken in (a) Llanelli constituency and (b) each constituency in Wales; and how many of these assessments resulted in uptake of the Green Deal by householders.

Gregory Barker: The Department publishes the number of Green Deal assessments that have been lodged in each parliamentary constituency in Wales in Table 1.6b of its quarterly Official Statistics release:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/green-deal-energy-company-obligation-eco-and-insulation-levels-in-great-britain-quarterly-report-to-december-2013
	The latest figures show that there were 5,875 assessments lodged in Wales up to the end of December 2013.
	Green Deal finance is only one option available to householders. Research shows that 78% of Green Deal assessed households said they had, are in the process or intend to install one or more energy saving measures.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Biofuels: Air Pollution

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the social costs caused by (a) large particulates (PM10), (b) small particulates (PM2.5) and (c) nitrogen dioxide emitted to air in the UK by (i) domestic biomass generation of heat and (ii) biomass for power generation in the latest year for which figures are available.

Dan Rogerson: DEFRA has not made any direct assessment of such social costs.

Biofuels: Air Pollution

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what amount of (a) large particulates (PM10), (b) small particulates (PM2.5) and (c) nitrogen dioxide were emitted to air in the UK by (i) domestic biomass generation of heat and (ii) biomass for power generation in the latest year for which figures are available; and what proportion of the annual national inventory of the respective emissions these represent.

Dan Rogerson: The most recent year for which historic emission estimates are available from the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory is 2012. These data were published in December 2013.
	The emissions from domestic combustion and their share of national total emissions are estimated to have been: (a) for large particles (PM10), 10.9 thousand tonnes and 9.6%; (b) for small particles (PM2.5), 10.6 thousand tonnes and 13.7%; (c) for nitrogen oxides, 0.96 thousand tonnes and 0.09%.
	The emissions from power generation and their share of national total emissions are estimated to have been: (a) for large particles (PM10), 0.65 thousand tonnes and 0.57%; (b) for small particles (PM2.5), 0.55 thousand tonnes and 0.72%; (c) for nitrogen oxides, 4.2 thousand tonnes and 0.4%.
	Emissions of nitrogen dioxide have not been separately estimated from those of nitrogen oxides.

Biofuels: Air Pollution

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the amount of (a) large particulates (PM10), (b) small particulates (PM2.5) and (c) nitrogen dioxide emitted to air in the UK by (i) domestic biomass generation of heat and (ii) biomass for power generation in each of the next five years; and what proportion of the annual national inventory of the respective emissions these represent.

Dan Rogerson: Projections of emissions have been made based on the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory released in December 2012 and the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s energy projections published in October 2013 for the year 2015.
	The emissions from domestic combustion in 2015 and their share of national total emissions are estimated to be: (a) for large particles (PM10), 10.1 thousand tonnes and 8.0%; (b) for small particles (PM2.5), 7.2 thousand tonnes and 9.8%; (c) for nitrogen oxides, 0.97 thousand tonnes and 0.087%.
	The emissions from power generation in 2015 and their share of national total emissions are estimated to be: (a) for large particles (PM10), 0.022 thousand tonnes and 0.017%; (b) for small particles (PM2.5), 0.011 thousand tonnes and 0.015%; (c) for nitrogen oxides, 1.5 thousand tonnes and 0.13%.
	Emissions of nitrogen dioxide have not been separately estimated from those of nitrogen oxides.

EDUCATION

School Meals

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will take steps to ensure that school lunches in academies and free schools meet the nutritional standards of those in the state sector; and if he will make a statement.

David Laws: The revised school food standards will apply to single mainstream academies and free schools opening from July 2014, other mainstream academies and free schools opening from autumn 2014, and non-mainstream academies opening later in 2014. Academies set up prior to 2010 already have to comply.
	During their review of school food, the authors of the School Food Plan approached several academy chains, including the Harris Federation, the Oasis Community Learning Multi-Academy Trust, and the School Partnership Trust. All agreed in principle to comply with the standards and the Leon Foundation is encouraging as many academies and free schools as possible to sign up formally to the new standards.
	99% of those academies which responded to a survey by the School Food Trust in 2012 said they were committed to following the new food standards.

Schools: Armed Forces

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether the pupil premium is available for pre-school children from service families; and if he will make a statement.

David Laws: The pupil premium and the service children premium are additional resources provided to maintained schools and academies in England to support the education of 4 to 16-year-olds who meet the eligibility requirements.
	The Government have announced that a new early years pupil premium, worth £50 million, will be introduced from April 2015. It will give disadvantaged three and four-year-old children better access to quality early education which evidence shows can have a major impact on their school readiness. The Government will consult later this year on how best to implement these proposals.

Schools: Armed Forces

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what arrangements are in place to ensure that the pupil premium for service children is used for its intended purposes.

David Laws: Head teachers are responsible for selecting the most appropriate interventions to support their service pupils, including pastoral support or interventions to improve attainment.
	They are held accountable for the use of this additional funding in two ways. First, through the Ofsted inspection framework where inspectors focus on the attainment of different groups of pupils, including those who attract the service premium. Secondly, schools are required to publish online how much service pupil premium funding they receive, how it is spent and the impact it has made.

TRANSPORT

Conditions of Employment

Pamela Nash: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the answer of 1 May 2014, Official Report, column 785W, on conditions of employment, what estimate he has made of the number of indirect employees of his Department who are on zero-hour contracts.

Stephen Hammond: My Department employs no individuals via contingent labour contracts on a zero hour basis.

Cycling

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to improve road safety for cyclists.

Robert Goodwill: The Government take cycle safety very seriously. In this Parliament we have committed £278 million of funding directly for cycling in England; this includes junction safety schemes and traffic-free and traffic-calmed routes.
	We have also made it easier for local authorities to implement 20 mph zones and other highway measures to support cycle safety, and we encourage them to consider these measures on their highway network.

Cycling

Jesse Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to encourage safer cycling.

Robert Goodwill: In addition to the £278 million of funding directly for cycling in England, we continue to support Bikeability cycle training for children. It provides trainees with skills suited to the road, but also explains the importance of obeying the Highway Code, and sharing the road. Some councils provide free or subsidised training to adults.

Highways Agency

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  whether any increase in remuneration of senior managers in the Highways Agency will have to be agreed by him when the Agency is transformed into a Government-owned company;
	(2)  whether senior managers in the Highways Agency will be able to enter into legal tax reduction schemes when the Agency is transformed into a government-owned company;
	(3)  whether the Highways Agency will be subject to the Government's public sector pay policy when it is transformed into a Government-owned company.

Robert Goodwill: The Government intend to transform the Highways Agency into a Government-owned company, as confirmed in the response to consultation published on 30 April. In accordance with TUPE principles, we expect the pay and terms of employment of all staff to remain unchanged once transferred except for the necessary technical amendments to reflect the change to company status.
	Staff management arrangements for the company following transition, including pay and reward, are still being worked through within Government. We aim to establish appropriate conditions to allow the company to fulfil its functions efficiently and effectively, while keeping costs down for the taxpayer. This will reflect the Government’s pay policy, as well as support the delivery of a substantially increased investment programme.
	There is no intention to encourage or create opportunities for legal tax reduction schemes as part of Highways Agency transformation.

Highways Agency

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much VAT the Highways Agency recovered in (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13 and (c) 2013-14.

Robert Goodwill: The amounts of value added tax (VAT) recovered by the Highways Agency over three years to March 2014 is displayed in the following table.
	
		
			 Financial year Period Amount of VAT recovered (£) 
			 2011-12 Quarter 1 91,956,848 
			  Quarter 2 81,319,124 
			  Quarter 3 93,513,617 
			  Quarter 4 85,893,977 
			  Full year 352,683,566 
			    
			 2012-13 Quarter 1 97,382,531 
			  Quarter 2 80,415,300 
			  Quarter 3 97,751,901 
			  Quarter 4 89,596,108 
			  Full year 365,145,840 
			    
			 2013-14 Quarter 1 102,281,450 
			  Quarter 2 90,696,365 
			  Quarter 3 115,337,948 
			  Quarter 4 104,792,378 
			  Full year 413,108,141

Motor Vehicles: Exhaust Emissions

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what information later than 2003 his Department has on the relative emissions from motor vehicles powered by road fuel gases.

Stephen Hammond: The Department commissioned testing of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in 2006 which concluded that the air pollutant emissions performance of LPG vehicles is similar to that of petrol vehicles. The Department is also aware of other studies which showed similar results that engines running on road fuel gases broadly emit less oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) than a comparable diesel engine, while producing CO2 emissions between those of equivalent diesel and petrol engines.

Motor Vehicles: Insurance

David Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment his Department has made of the effect of Government policy on the level of car insurance premiums.

Robert Goodwill: The Government continue to monitor the publically available sources of data on motor insurance premiums. The Government’s reforms to civil litigation costs and funding will result in unnecessary and excessive costs being removed from the system. However, the level and timing of any reduction in such premiums is a matter for the insurance industry itself.
	We are working with insurers to mitigate fraud, excessive whiplash claims and young drivers risk to reduce premiums further.

DEFENCE

Armed Forces: Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent assessment he has made of the effect of post-traumatic stress disorder on the ability of former services personnel to reintegrate into civilian life.

Anna Soubry: Although mental health problems, and PTSD in particular, are no more prevalent among service personnel than the broader civilian population, it is recognised that service personnel who do experience mental health problems may find it harder to make the transition to civilian life.
	The Government have therefore given priority to ensuring that service leavers and veterans can access timely and appropriate mental health treatment, should it be necessary, both in the NHS and through other programmes delivered across Government and the voluntary sector. All of the recommendations of the ‘Fighting Fit’ report, written by the now Minister for International Security Strategy the Under-Secretary of State for Defence, my hon. Friend the Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison), have been implemented.
	Examples of initiatives taken forward under this Government include Structured Mental Health assessment as part of routine and discharge medicals; specialist follow-on treatment after discharge; the introduction of e-learning packages for clinicians, providing information and advice on the health care needs of the armed forces, their families and veterans; funding for the Combat Stress 24 hr Mental Health Helpline; and the introduction of the Big White Wall, providing Mental Health wellbeing services to serving personnel, their families and veterans.

Coleshill Auxilliers

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will take steps to recognise the work undertaken by the Coleshill Auxiliaries during the Second World War.

Anna Soubry: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 10 October 2013, Official Report, columns 414-15W.
	There are no plans to institute a specific award for those who were members of the Coleshill Auxilliers. The auxiliary units were listed as Home Guard units, and, as such, members who completed three years service in the United Kingdom qualify for the Defence Medal. In addition, surviving members may apply for the Armed Forces Veterans Badge.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Africa

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of the potential contribution of sustainable lighting systems to development in Africa; and if her Department will collaborate with Solar Aid to provide such systems to communities in Africa.

Lynne Featherstone: The UN Sustainable Energy for All initiative estimated that in 2010 only 32% of people in sub-Saharan Africa had access to electricity. There is high potential for household scale systems using sustainable and renewable energy such as solar power to increase access to electricity.
	DFID will match funding for Solar Aid’s SunnyMoney appeal in The Guardian newspaper. This will fund the distribution of portable solar lights through Solar Aid’s social enterprise ‘SunnyMoney Way,’ in Zambia, Malawi, Kenya and Uganda. Through this project, Solar Aid expect to distribute some 76,400 solar lights benefiting over 400,000 people.

Bangladesh

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if her Department will provide support to the Bright Green Energy Group for distributing solar energy systems to rural communities in Bangladesh.

Lynne Featherstone: DFID recognises the important role that the private sector plays in developing and delivering products to increase access to energy in poor countries. DFID makes funding available to energy in Africa. This includes the Renewable Energy and Adaptation to Climate Change (REACT) window of the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund.

Developing Countries: Disability

David Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps her Department has taken to ensure that the work carried out under the Girls' Education Challenge Fund is fully inclusive of girls with disabilities.

Lynne Featherstone: The Girls Education Challenge programme has seven projects providing over £9 million to fund disability-focused girls education projects in Uganda, Kenya and Sierra Leone.

Developing Countries: Disability

David Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many of the teachers it aims to train by 2015 will be trained in providing inclusive education to children with disabilities.

Lynne Featherstone: The UK Government have committed to help train 190,000 teachers by 2015, to help improve the quality of education for all children, including those with disabilities. By 2012-13, DFID had trained 99,000 teachers. A major challenge in poor countries is developing the data systems which can capture the needs of children with disabilities. We are therefore supporting UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) to regularly publish education indicators which disaggregate people with disabilities, and to develop new standards for school censuses and surveys related to marginalised populations.

Developing Countries: Family Planning

Julian Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the answer of 10 April 2014, Official Report, column 380W, on developing countries: family planning, how much of her Department's budget has been allocated to achieving the outcomes in her Department's policy paper Safe and Unsafe Abortion in each of the last two years; and if she will make a statement.

Lynne Featherstone: DFID adheres to Development Co-Operation Directorate (OACD-DAC) expenditure coding requirements to allow comparison across donor spending towards attainment of the millennium development goal targets. This measures against coding titles as have been internationally agreed. Only coding titles as have been internationally agreed can be individually disaggregated by DFID systems.

Palestinians

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate she has made of the additional costs resulting from Israeli border, access and planning controls to UK-funded development projects in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Alan Duncan: No such assessment has been possible. UK aid helps to finance the Palestinian Authority’s fiscal deficit, which would significantly decrease if Israeli movement and access restrictions in the OPTs were lifted. The World Bank estimates that if Israeli restrictions were lifted in ‘Area C’ of the west bank alone, the Palestinian economy would expand by more than a third and potentially would not require international donor assistance.

Palestinians

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions she has had with the European Commission and her counterparts in EU member states on compensation requests to Israeli authorities for EU-funded aid projects demolished by the Israeli authorities.

Alan Duncan: DFID and the EU regularly lobby Israel against the illegal demolition of Palestinian homes and infrastructure, and the forced transfer of people in Area C and East Jerusalem.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he intends to reply to the letter to him dated 25 March 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr M Woronycz.

David Lidington: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), responded to the right hon. Member on 1 May 2014.

Middle East

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what active steps his (a) Department has taken and plans to take to facilitate the convening of a conference on the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons.

Hugh Robertson: The UK is fully committed to convening a Conference on the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction as soon as possible, in line with the 2010 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference Action Plan. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), Ministers and officials have discussed the Conference with their counterparts from the region, and will continue to do so. Officials have attended, and supported, recent informal consultations between the Facilitator and states of the region at Glion in Switzerland, and will engage in future informal consultations to build agreement. The UK continues to provide financial support for the work of the Facilitator, Finnish Under Secretary of State Jaakko Laajava.

HEALTH

Abortion

Steven Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure that the cases of the 67 doctors who were found to have pre-signed abortion referral forms following investigations by the Care Quality Commission in 2012 are referred to the police.

Jane Ellison: Allegations referred to the Department were passed on to the relevant police forces for them to investigate. Other allegations of pre-signing were investigated by the General Medical Council. Decisions about whether to prosecute rest with the Crown Prosecution Service.

Abortion

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure that the quality and content of advice published by independent abortion providers accords with that of his Department and the Royal colleges.

Jane Ellison: Medical practitioners carrying out terminations of pregnancy must comply with the Abortion Act 1967. Independent sector providers approved to perform abortions by the Secretary of State for Health must comply with the Required Standard Operating Procedures as a condition of approval.

Abortion

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many HSA4 forms submitted in each month since 2010 are pending completion.

Jane Ellison: The information is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Abortion

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the ability of non-registered medical professionals to gauge mental or physical health risks posed by a pregnancy for the purpose of judging whether or not the criteria of the Abortion Act 1967 are met.

Jane Ellison: The Abortion Act 1967 sets out that two doctors must certify that in their opinion, which must be formed in good faith, a request for an abortion meets at least one (and the same) of the grounds set out in the Act.
	The Department’s view that registered medical practitioners should be able to show how they have considered the particular facts of a case when forming their opinion, for example by making notes in the patient record. They should be able to defend how their decision was reached if asked to justify it at a later date.

Abortion

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many doctors were referred to the police for investigation for crimes relating to the Abortion Act 1967 in each of the last 10 years; and how many such referrals resulted in (a) charges and (b) convictions.

Jane Ellison: No registered medical practitioners have been convicted of a breach of abortion law and no prosecutions have been brought in the past 10 years.

Abortion

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many women suffered health complications following abortion procedures in 2012.

Jane Ellison: Statistics for abortion, including complications arising from abortions, are published annually. A copy of the latest report, ‘Abortion Statistics, England and Wales: 2012’,has already been placed in the Library.

Abortion

Julian Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions his Department has had with the General Medical Council about the pre-signing of abortion certificates since January 2012.

Jane Ellison: Departmental officials have met with the General Medical Council (GMC) on several occasions since February 2012 where abortion issues, including pre-signing of abortion HSA1 certificates, were discussed. In addition, I also met with the GMC recently to discuss abortion issues.

Abortion

Julian Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the prevalence of the pre-signing of abortion (HSA1) certificates since the conclusion of the Care Quality Commission's 2012 investigations into abortion clinics.

Jane Ellison: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) previously investigated the prevalence of the pre-signing of abortion (HSA1) certificates due to a specific request in 2012. The CQC has put in place information for its own staff to help identify if pre-signing or other instances of non-compliance are taking place to make sure that such cases would be picked up during inspections. This is in line with how the CQC would handle any information of concern identified during an inspection.
	If a CQC inspection identifies pre-signing or other instances of non-compliance with the Health and Social Care Act and Regulations, then appropriate regulatory action will be taken. This includes reporting any concerns in relation to termination of pregnancy practice to the Department. The Department has not received any notification of pre-signing of abortion certificates from the CQC since these inspections.

Analgesics

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department holds on whether the use of painkillers increases the risk of a stroke.

Norman Lamb: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) continuously monitors the safety of all medicines on the market in the United Kingdom. The MHRA holds data from clinical trials, published literature and spontaneous reports of suspected adverse drug reactions collected through the Yellow Card Scheme.
	Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are widely used and effective medicines for the treatment of arthritis and other painful conditions. It has been known for many years that NSAIDs are associated with a small increased risk of heart attacks or strokes, particularly when used at a high dose and for a long time.
	The MHRA has widely communicated the information and advice for health care professionals on the risk of heart attack and stroke with NSAIDs in letters and bulletins, and other publications through liaison with the British National Formulary and National Prescribing Centre. In addition, product information (including patient information leaflets) has been updated in order to support informed decision-making in relation to the choice of painkiller.

Antidepressants

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had with (a) the Royal Colleges and (b) pharmaceutical companies about the efficacy of anti-depressants.

Norman Lamb: A search of the Department's records and those of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has found no record of any such correspondence or discussions.

Autism: Children

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the adequacy of support available to families with children with autism.

Norman Lamb: The Care Bill has simplified the process for adult carers in England to access an assessment of need for social care, based on the appearance of a need for support.
	The Children and Families Act has introduced new arrangements for supporting young people with a special educational need, and their families. A single assessment involving professionals and commissioners, and the child’s family, will identify the care needs for the child or young person (from ages 0 to 25) to inform an individual Education, Health and Care Plan focusing on outcomes and the integrated services to deliver them.

Brain: Tumours

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to raise awareness among health professionals of the symptoms of brain tumours and their effects on children; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: “Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer”, published in January 2011, committed over £450 million up to 2014-15 to achieve earlier diagnosis of cancer, including improving direct general practitioner (GP) access to key diagnostic tests, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to support the diagnosis of brain tumours. In 2012, the Department published ‘Direct access to diagnostic tests for cancer: best practice referral pathways for general practitioners’ to provide criteria for accessing key diagnostic tests including MRI brain scans. The guide aims to raise awareness of the symptoms that require urgent referral to specialists and sets out where a direct referral for an MRI brain scan may benefit patients through achieving a faster diagnosis. NHS England monitors the use of these diagnostic tests through the Diagnostic Imaging Dataset.
	To increase GP awareness of brain tumours in children, in 2012, the Department funded British Medical Journal Learning to provide an e-learning module for GPs on diagnosing osteosarcoma and brain tumours in children. One part of the module supports GPs to understand the main types of brain tumours in children and young people, their common symptom presentations and to recognise when patients need urgent referral, the other deals with communication barriers, and provides potential ways to address these barriers in GP consultations.
	In addition to this, since 2005, the Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer, published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has supported GPs to identify patients with the symptoms of suspected cancer, including brain tumours, and urgently refer them as appropriate. NICE is in the process of updating this guidance to ensure that it reflects the latest evidence and the anticipated publication date for the revised guidelines is May 2015.
	I have also recently written to all Health and Wellbeing boards to make them aware of the briefing material developed by the “Headsmart” charity, which aims to increase awareness of the symptoms of brain tumours among parents, schools and health professionals.

Breast Cancer

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what guidance NHS England has issued to strategic clinical networks on the role that breast network site-specific groups should play in the current strategic clinical network framework;
	(2)  how many strategic clinical networks currently have a breast network site-specific group; and how many times each such group met in 2013-14;
	(3)  how many breast network site-specific groups existed in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13; and how many times each such group met in each year;
	(4)  what guidance is provided to breast network site-specific groups on (a) the frequency with which they should meet each year, (b) the number of members each group should have and (c) the roles that should be represented in the group's membership.

Jane Ellison: The requirement for the provision of site-specific groups (SSGs), such as those for breast cancer, is written into national cancer peer review requirements. In consultation with strategic clinical networks (SCNs), NHS England has developed an SCN framework. The framework reiterates the role and importance of clinical networking groups as support for the commissioning process, but allows for local agreement to how those groups are supported.
	There are 12 SCNs and we would expect all to have a breast network SSG. This will be evidenced by the annual report published for the SCN and relevant area team. The National Peer Review Programme “Manual for Cancer Services; Breast Cancer Measures” states that network groups should meet regularly.
	The Review Programme further states that the network group should produce an annual work programme in discussion with the SCN and agreed with the director of the relevant Area Team. It should include details of any planned service developments and should specify the personnel responsible and the time scales for implantation. The SSGs also develop protocols for the treatment of patients within the SCN and agree audits and research projects that will be supported.
	The Review Programme also states that network groups should meet regularly. It gives guidance on the roles that should be represented on the group but not numbers.
	We do not hold information on how many breast network SSGs existed and how many times each group met prior to April 2013.

Brighton

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will bring forward proposals to relocate (a) staff and (b) offices of his Department to Brighton; and if he will make a statement.

Daniel Poulter: The Department has no plans to relocate departmental offices or staff to Brighton.

Children: Protection

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department will provide for NHS staff on whether to share the information on the Child Protection-Information Sharing project with relevant local authorities, police forces or care homes.

Daniel Poulter: The Child Protection-Information Sharing (CP-IS) project will allow the sharing of child protection information between national health service unscheduled care settings and local authority children’s services staff only. The information will not be shared with care homes or the police.
	CP-IS will hold child protection information only for children in England who are subject to a child protection plan or are looked after by a local authority.
	When NHS staff submit a query to the CP-IS service, the system will electronically share the following information with the local authority responsible for the child: the time and date of the query, the name of the NHS healthcare worker who made the query, and the NHS organisation from within which the query was made.
	CP-IS will not introduce information sharing over and beyond what is currently shared by NHS staff and local authorities.
	The Health and Social Care Information Centre has published guidance on its website for NHS and local authority staff on how to use the CP-IS system.

Clinical Trials

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department publishes for pharmaceutical companies to ensure that the clinical trials they conduct are carried out ethically and safely.

Daniel Poulter: The International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH) Note for Guidance on Good Clinical Practice (GCP) is an international standard for GCP. It became operational in the European Union in January 1997 and is a set of internationally recognised ethical and scientific quality requirements which must be observed for designing, conducting, recording and reporting clinical trials that involve the participation of human subjects. This guidance is available on the web and is published on the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) website. In addition the MHRA published the MHRA Good Clinical Practice Guide in September 2013.
	The Health Research Authority (HRA) publishes a range of resources on research ethics that have relevance to clinical trials sponsored by pharmaceutical companies. These resources are available on the HRA website at:
	www.hra.nhs.uk/resources/

Dermatology: General Practitioners

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what discussions his Department has had with (a) Health Education England and (b) the Royal College of GPs on compulsory dermatological training for GPs since 4 December 2013;
	(2)  what recent steps his Department has taken to address the lack of compulsory dermatological training in the GP educational pathway.

Daniel Poulter: The Government have mandated Health Education England (HEE) to provide national leadership on education, training and workforce development in the national health service. This mandate includes a commitment that HEE will ensure that general practitioner (GP) training produces GPs with the required competencies to practise in the new NHS. Consequently HEE will work with stakeholders to influence training curricula as appropriate.
	The content and standard of medical training is the responsibility of the General Medical Council, which is an independent statutory body. It has the general function of promoting high standards of education and co-ordinating all stages of education to ensure that medical students and newly qualified doctors are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes essential for professional practice. Within the current GP curriculum, trainees are required to successfully complete training on care of people with skin problems.
	Responsibility for the commission of dermatology services sits with NHS England. NHS England commissions specialised dermatology services for those patients requiring care from highly specialist dermatology centres (around 10% of sufferers). The level of provision of non-specialised dermatology services is decided by the local clinical commissioning group (CCG) and it will take into account the needs of the population overall. The CCG’s decisions are underpinned by clinical insight and knowledge of local health care needs. As such, provision of services will vary in response to local needs.
	The Department has not held any specific discussions on compulsory dermatological training for GPs with HEE or the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) since 4 December 2013, nor have HEE or NHS England held discussions with RCGP on this matter.

Diabetes

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) elective and (b) emergency admissions with a (i) primary and (ii) secondary diagnosis of diabetes there have been in (A) England and (B) each commissioning area of responsibility; and what proportion of such admissions were of (1) a child under the age of 18 and (2) an adult aged 18 and over in each year since 2005.

Jane Ellison: Information on the finished admission episodes with a primary and secondary diagnosis of diabetes, by admission type, age and primary care trust for the years 2005-06 to 2012-13 has been placed in the Library.

Dietary Supplements

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department holds on whether the use of shellfish supplements increases life expectancy.

Jane Ellison: The Department does not hold any information on whether the use of shellfish supplements increases life expectancy.

Doctors: Crime

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on reporting to the police suspected criminal acts committed by doctors that are discovered by his Department and NHS England.

Jane Ellison: Allegations of breaches in the Abortion Act are taken extremely seriously. They will be referred to the police either as a result of these being brought to the Department’s attention or in the event of investigations by NHS England (under its contractual and general practitioner regulatory frameworks).

Eating Disorders: Young People

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has commissioned on diabulimia in teenagers and young adults.

Daniel Poulter: The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funded the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) for South Yorkshire from 2008 to 2013. The CLAHRC carried out a programme of research on young people with Type 1 diabetes, including research relating to eating disorders in this patient group. Outputs include papers published in the journal Diabetic Medicine.

Exhaust Emissions: Motor Vehicles

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate his Department has made of the number of premature deaths per year attributable to air pollution from diesel-fuelled vehicles; and what discussions he has had with the Royal Colleges about ways of reducing such deaths.

Jane Ellison: The Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt) has had no discussions with the Royal Colleges on actions to reduce the health impacts of air pollution. The actions the Government are taking to reduce the health impacts of air pollution have been given in a previous reply to the hon. Member for Liverpool, Wavertree (Luciana Berger) on 28 April 2014, Official Report, columns 474-75W.
	In 2010, the Department’s expert advisory Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants published an estimate of the mortality effect in 2008 of long-term exposure to particulate air pollution arising from human activities. The mortality burden for the United Kingdom was estimated as an effect equivalent to nearly 29,000 deaths. While this includes mortality attributable to particulate matter arising from diesel engines, separate figures for the impact of diesel-fuelled vehicles have not been produced by the Department.

Health Professions: Qualifications

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if he will take steps to ensure that the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists acts to accommodate doctors and nurses who have a conscientious objection to supplying contraceptive drugs or devices which act after fertilisation receive a diploma in sexual and reproductive health;
	(2)  what his policy is on allowing doctors and nurses who have a conscientious objection to supplying contraceptive drugs or devices which act after fertilisation to receive diplomas in sexual and reproductive health.

Jane Ellison: The Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare is responsible for decisions on the syllabus of its diploma, the requirements for entry to the Diploma course and the award of a diploma qualification.
	The Department understands that its guidelines on the syllabus and on possible conscientious objection have not changed.

Local Safeguarding Children Boards

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department provides to clinical commissioning groups about engagement with Local Safeguarding Children Boards.

Daniel Poulter: Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are statutory members of Local Safeguarding Children Boards under section 13 of the Children Act 2004, as amended by the Health and Social Care Act 2012. The inter-agency statutory guidance, ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’, published by the Department for Education in 2013, describes the functions of Local Safeguarding Children Boards and the responsibilities of member organisations.
	NHS England published its ‘Safeguarding Vulnerable People in the Reformed NHS: Accountability and Assurance Framework’ in 2013 to complement the statutory guidance and support CCGs and other national health service organisations in fulfilling their safeguarding responsibilities.

Pancreatic Cancer

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish a dataset for pancreatic cancer NHS waiting times which is distinct from the current upper gastrointestinal cancer waiting times dataset.

Jane Ellison: National statistics are collected and published on waiting times experienced by patients with suspected and diagnosed cancers in order to improve equity of access to cancer services and to contribute to an improvement in survival rates.
	The data are published for major cancer groups. Publishing data at the more detailed cancer site levels would be reliant on detailed clinical coding and would risk disclosing patient identities.

Parkinson’s Disease

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many individual funding requests for the prescription of Duodopa to patients with Parkinson's disease were (a) made, (b) accepted, (c) accepted following an appeal and (d) rejected in (i) 2011-12, (ii) 2012-13 and (iii) 2013-14;
	(2)  what the average waiting time is for a decision on an individual funding request for the prescription of Duodopa to a patient with Parkinson's disease.

Norman Lamb: Prior to April 2013, primary care trusts were responsible for dealing with individual funding requests and information on individual funding request decisions, or on the time taken to consider such requests, was not collected centrally.
	From April 2013, NHS England assumed responsibility for commissioning adult specialist neurosciences services, including the majority of services for patients with Parkinson’s disease, with some being the responsibility of clinical commissioning groups.
	NHS England has informed us that information on the number of individual funding requests made to NHS England is not currently available. NHS England is improving its data collection mechanisms and aims to improve availability of such information in the future.
	NHS England has advised us it aims to inform the requesting clinician of the outcome of the individual funding request panel decision within 40 working days from the date of receipt of a completed request form. There are no plans to collect information on the average time taken for these decisions to be made.

Parkinson’s Disease

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what assessment his Department has made of potential geographical variations in the handling of individual funding requests for the prescription of Duodopa to patients with Parkinson's disease;
	(2)  what assessment his Department has made of time spent by clinicians on producing and administering individual funding requests for the prescription of Duodopa to patients with Parkinson's disease.

Norman Lamb: We have made no such assessments.

Patients: Females

Steven Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the potential effects of regulatory changes allowing registered medical practitioners to form an opinion about the mental or physical health of a female patient without meeting or examining her; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: The approach to abortion in the United Kingdom is set out in the Abortion Act 1967 and this remains unchanged. The Act sets out that two doctors must certify that in their opinion, which must be formed in good faith, a request for an abortion meets at least one (and the same) of the grounds set out in the Act.

Radiotherapy

Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when NHS England will publish a tariff for stereotactic ablative radiotherapy.

Daniel Poulter: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I have her on 25 November, 2013, Official Report, column 160W.
	Monitor and NHS England published a Methodology Discussion Paper on the 23 April 2014, which is available at:
	www.monitor.gov.uk/node/6272
	where the sector can provide feedback on the 2015/16 national tariff payment system. A copy has been placed in the Library.
	The sector will have further opportunities to comment and provide evidence during the summer of 2014 prior to the final tariff publication. Services which have been subject to local price setting will also be reviewed for the local pricing arrangements as part of the review for 2015-16 and 2016-17.

Radiotherapy

Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many patients have been sent to hospitals in London for stereotactic radiosurgery treatment from (a) Oxfordshire, (b) Berkshire, (c) Buckinghamshire and (d) Wiltshire in each of the last three financial years;
	(2)  how many patients have been sent to hospitals in Sheffield for stereotactic radiosurgery treatment from (a) Oxfordshire, (b) Berkshire, (c) Buckinghamshire and (d) Wiltshire in each of the last three financial years.

Jane Ellison: The requested information is not collected centrally.
	We understand Mr James Palmer, Clinical Director of Specialised Services at NHS England will be writing to my hon. Friend to offer a meeting in order that he can address concerns about the provision of stereotactic radiosurgery treatment.

Radiotherapy

Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  pursuant to the answer of 24 March 2014, Official Report, column 132W, on radiotherapy and with reference to section three of the guidance issued by Monitor on the Commissioning of Radiosurgery Services on 4 April 2014, for what reasons NHS England is not funding patients to be treated with the gamma knife at University College London Hospital;
	(2)  what progress NHS England is making on improving access to stereotactic ablative radiotherapy for patients suffering with cancer of the prostate, liver, pancreas, spinal tumours and cancer of the head and neck;
	(3)  if he will take steps to encourage NHS England to respond to the Oxford Radiosurgery Centre's request that NHS patients in Oxfordshire and surrounding counties who require radiosurgery be treated there;
	(4)  pursuant to the answer of 24 March 2014, Official Report, column 132W, on radiotherapy and with reference to section three of the guidance issued by Monitor on the Commissioning of Radiosurgery Services on 4 April 2014, which primary care trusts in the south west of England commissioned treatment with the gamma knife at University College London Hospital for patients before 1 April 2013.

Jane Ellison: The business case for the gamma-knife centre at Oxford was originally agreed with the primary care trust (PCT) prior to April 2013, with an assumption that the PCT would stop sending patients to other centres elsewhere, and start sending them to the new centre once it was completed.
	As of April 2013, commissioning of these services transferred to the specialist commissioning team in NHS England.
	NHS England is currently undertaking a review of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) (e.g. gamma knife) and stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR, e.g. cyber knife) for intracranial conditions to establish what the national demand is in line with its national clinical commissioning policies on SRS and SABR, and what the national capacity requirements are for this specialised treatment.
	Until the capacity requirements are clear, NHS England has said that it would be inappropriate to encourage new market entrants to provide this service as it cannot be clear what the potential consequential impacts on service quality, sustainability (financial and clinical) and potential unintended changes to patient pathways will be. Until the review is complete NHS England has said no substantive changes will be made to the current provision.
	As part of the transition of this service to NHS England, it developed, consulted upon and published a series of national clinical commissioning policies for intracranial SRS and SRT treatment.
	A report setting out the emerging findings of this review has been shared with clinical reference groups to seek their views and help NHS England develop a final draft. Once the views of stakeholders have been gathered, this will then go to the Specialised Commissioning Oversight Group (SCOG) to agree a preferred option. Once the SCOG has a preferred option, NHS England will consult with patients and professionals and take account of those views when taking a final decision. If it is concluded that there are to be significant changes in the provision of services, there will be a full public consultation before any changes are made.
	NHS England is expecting that the draft report will be ready for consideration at SCOG in June and then it would commence a public consultation on the draft report and preferred option during July to September. The report and recommendations will then be finalised after taking account of the views expressed during the consultation stage and a final decision taken by SCOG in September 2014.
	NHS England inherited the range of gamma knife providers currently in place, of which University College London Hospitals (UCLH) was not one. NHS England is currently undertaking a review of stereotactic radiosurgery provision and will consult widely with stakeholders and providers prior to making changes to service provision. There are two long-established providers of gamma knife surgery commissioned by NHS England located in central London to whom patients from all six London specialist neurosurgical centres have been referred for gamma knife treatment for a number of years, including patients from UCLH.
	Finally, there was no contract in place with UCLH to provide gamma knife surgery for any PCT prior to 1 April 2013. Any activity that may have been undertaken there would have been done on an ad-hoc, non-contracted basis and NHS England does not hold this information.

Social Services: Oxfordshire

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many applications have been made in Oxfordshire under the National Assistance Act 1948 by people without resources to meet their requirements or whose resources must be supplemented in order to meet their requirements in the last five years.

Norman Lamb: Information on the number of adult social care clients receiving council-funded services, including residential and domiciliary care, is collected by the NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC).
	The HSCIC has provided the available information for Oxfordshire county council over the five years 2008-09 to 2012-13. This is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Type of service 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 Residential care 1,350 1,245 1,155 1,170 1,120 
			 Domiciliary care      
			 Of which:      
			 Home care 4,625 5,010 3,675 3,125 2,820 
			 Day care 1,880 1,820 1,680 750 630 
			 Meals 465 330 295 175 155 
			 Short term residential care (not respite) 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Direct payments 925 - 1,040 1,400 1,530 
			 Existing/new direct payments and personal budgets - 1,050 - - - 
			 Professional support 12,485 12,315 5,750 1,760 1,275 
			 Equipment and adaptations 1,000 1,305 1,270 875 865 
			 Other 1,125 1,045 2,285 505 445 
			 Notes: 1. Data relate to adults 18 and over. 2. Numbers are rounded to the nearest 5. 3. All data are published and final. 4. The ‘Existing/new direct payments and personal budgets’ columns in return P2f was introduced in 2009-10 to capture personal budgets and reverted back to direct payments in 2010-11. Service users who were receiving council commissioned services via a personal budget or direct payment were only included under this heading and not under the specific service received. Sources: Referrals, Assessments and Packages of Care (RAP) returns, tables P1 and P2f.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Deportation: Offenders

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost is of keeping a foreign national offender classified by her Department as individual non-compliant in detention for one day.

James Brokenshire: The estimated average direct daily cost of holding a person in our immigration detention facilities is £100. It should be noted that this is an average and it will vary marginally depending upon the mix of facilities in use at a given point.

Female Genital Mutilation: Northern Ireland

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she is taking in Northern Ireland to raise awareness of female genital mutilation.

Norman Baker: The Coalition Government recognises the importance of raising awareness of female genital mutilation. Following a successful bid to the European Union progress funding stream, the Home Office was awarded approximately €300,000 in November 2013 for work to raise awareness of FGM. This will be used to fund a range of activities across the UK, including in Northern Ireland. For example, we are launching a communications campaign to raise awareness of FGM and we are also developing an e-learning tool so that all frontline practitioners will be able to undertake an introduction to FGM.
	The Civil Law Reform Division of the Northern Ireland Executive also consulted on draft multi-agency practice guidelines earlier this year which were based on the Multi-Agency Practice Guidelines issued by the Home Office.

Hillsborough Stadium

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which police forces (a) handed over evidence relating to the Hillsborough disaster and (b) contacted the Independent Police Complaints Commission to inform it that they did not have any evidence relating to the Hillsborough disaster.

Theresa May: I wrote to all chief constables in England and Wales on 4 March 2014 to request that all police forces search their records to establish whether they possess any material that relates to the Hillsborough tragedy. The purpose of the letter was to assist the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and Operation Resolve in recovering any material which had not already been provided. I understand that all forces have now responded to the IPCC and I am aware that the IPCC is currently assessing these responses. I am expecting a full report from them in due course.

Human Trafficking: Children

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when her Department's Personal Advocate Pilot for trafficked children will start; how non-governmental organisations will participate in the schemes; and when each pilot scheme in each participating local authority will start and end.

Karen Bradley: The Modern Slavery Bill will enable us to strengthen our response to human trafficking and modern slavery for both adults and children. We announced in January our intention to trial specialist independent advocates for victims of child trafficking.
	23 local authorities that represent a wide demographic range as well as major transport hubs and asylum screening units have agreed to participate in the trial. These areas also have the highest rates of trafficking referrals to the National Referral Mechanism or are areas where we are aware of a high number of trafficking investigations by law enforcement agencies.
	We are currently considering bids from a number of voluntary and community services organisations that were identified as potential providers of the advocacy service because of the particular expertise they hold. When the trial goes live we will invite a number of relevant stakeholders, including non-governmental organisations, to inform the project through a consultative group.
	We have to consider this matter following the passing in the Lords of an amendment to the Immigration Bill that has put on hold our proposals for these trials.

National Crime Agency

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her priorities are for extending the scope of the National Crime Agency in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) the UK.

Karen Bradley: The National Crime Agency is committed to assisting the Police Service of Northern Ireland in tackling serious and organised crime as far as the restrictions on its powers permit.
	Discussions continue in order to achieve full operating powers for the National Crime Agency in Northern Ireland to ensure the response to organised crime in Northern Ireland is more effective. This is a priority.
	The National Crime Agency does have full operating powers elsewhere in the UK.

Passports

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the change has been in the number of passports which were (a) issued and (b) reported (i) lost and (ii) stolen between 2008 and 2013, by issuing passport office.

James Brokenshire: Passport applications are distributed across Her Majesty's Passport Office estate based on capacity and resources in each office. Data for 2008 to 2013 are shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Office 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 20131 
			 Belfast 347,582 378,537 363,769 436,162 426,752 444,895 
			 Durham 1,659,967 1,702,246 1,687,183 1,847,079 2,037,716 2,147,885 
			 Glasgow 233,104 53,572 123,293 50,767 170,423 117,396 
			 Liverpool 1,054,467 748,306 1,063,655 1,054,625 1,269,945 1,358,140 
			 London 235,713 237,171 227,999 196,589 206,391 221,061 
			 Newport 762,662 881,872 779,983 574,506 62,709 61,642 
			 Peterborough 988,299 1,101,524 1,126,665 1,120,397 1,130,313 1,386,120 
		
	
	
		
			 Total2 5,281,794 5,103,228 5,372,547 5,280,125 5,304,249 5,737,139 
			 1 Includes overseas passports now issued in UK 2 Figures prior to 2013 do not include UK passports issued by FCO. 2013 was the transition year. Full repatriation of this activity completed in early 2014. 
		
	
	Lost and stolen data are collated at national level only and not available separated by issuing office. The following table provides a breakdown of how many passports have been reported (i) lost, and (ii) stolen between 2008 and 2013.
	
		
			  Lost passport Stolen passport Other replacement passport Total lost stolen or other replacement passport 
			 2008 249,261 38,120 8,637 296,018 
			 2009 232,852 32,276 7,835 272,963 
			 2010 239,211 31,790 8,478 279,479 
			 2011 250,256 31,900 8,986 291,142 
			 2012 247,129 29,318 8,624 285,071 
			 2013 279,468 32,071 9,884 321,423 
		
	
	The category “other” is used by Her Majesty's Passport Office predominantly when a passport is declared damaged or destroyed.

Telecommunications Act 1984

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many directions under section 94 of the Telecommunications Act 1984 have been issued, amended or renewed in this Parliament.

James Brokenshire: Section 94 of the Telecommunications Act 1984 states that the Secretary of State may issue directions in the interests of national security and, as with the practice of previous Governments, we do not comment on security matters.

UK Visas and Immigration Directorate

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what budget is allocated to the UK Visa and Immigration Directorate.

James Brokenshire: The information is as follows:
	
		
			 UK Visa and Immigration Directorate budget 2014-15 
			  £ million 
			 Resource Administration 13.6 
			 Resource Programme 744.3 
			 Income Programme 1,022.6 
			 Capital 6.0 
			 Source: Home Office Main Estimates published on 29th April 2014

TREASURY

Children: Day Care

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the proportion of families that will directly benefit from the tax-free childcare scheme that will be (a) couples and (b) lone parents.

Nicky Morgan: Based on the best available data, we expect Tax-Free Childcare will be open to at least twice as many families as Employer Supported Childcare.
	Tax-Free Childcare will be launched in autumn 2015 and rolled out to all eligible families with children under 12 within the first year of the scheme’s operation, instead of just to under-fives in the first year. This will deliver support much more quickly, with around 1.9 million working families now qualifying within the first year.
	Working lone parents are more likely to have lower income levels than working couples. More lone parents will therefore receive support for child care through tax credits and then subsequently universal credit, which is generally more generous than Tax-Free Childcare.
	It is estimated that, of the families that will directly benefit from the Tax-Free Childcare scheme, around 95% are couples and 5% are lone parents.
	The latest 2011-12 Child and Working Tax Credits finalised annual awards publication show that of the families that benefit from the childcare element of tax credits, 39% are couples and 61% are lone parents.

Debts: Advisory Services

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what discussions he has had with (a) representatives or organisations offering free debt advice, (b) representatives of fee-charging debt management organisations, (c) creditors and (d) the Insolvency Service on the potential effect of his Department's withdrawal from the Debt Management Plan Protocol guidance group;
	(2)  for what reason his Department will no longer participate in the Debt Management Plan Protocol guidance group; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what assessment he has made of the future implementation of the Debt Management Plan Protocol;
	(4)  what assessment he has made of the effect of his Department's withdrawal from the Debt Management Plan Protocol guidance group on the development of future non-statutory debt solutions.

Andrea Leadsom: The Government are committed to improving standards in the debt management industry to deliver a better deal for consumers and greater transparency for creditors. The Debt Management Plan Protocol played a crucial role in meeting this objective, working in complement with the OFT regulatory framework, and paved the way for more robust regulation of the sector by the FCA.
	From 1 April, responsibility for regulating debt management firms, along with all other consumer credit firms, transferred from the Office of Fair Trading to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
	Consumers will be better protected under the new regime. The FCA will:
	police the gateway to the market more thoroughly;
	proactively identify risks to consumers;
	focus its supervisory resources on areas most likely to cause consumer harm;
	approve individuals in influential roles in firms;
	operate a flexible and responsive regime;
	use its wide enforcement toolkit; and
	ensure consumers have access to redress.
	The FCA will thoroughly assess every debt management firm’s fitness to trade as part of the authorisation process–debt management firms will be among the first to require authorisation.
	The FCA has also introduced new requirements for debt management firms, including:
	Prudential requirements: Debt management firms often hold consumers’ money—the FCA is requiring large debt management firms to hold capital to ensure that consumers don’t risk losing their money if things go wrong.
	Guidance added that debt management firms should not allocate more than half the money received from customers in debt management plans to meeting their fees and charges.
	With the new FCA regulatory regime in place which will greatly improve consumer protection in the debt management market, the Government decided, following discussions with a range of stakeholders, that it was the right time to step away from an active role in the protocol.
	The Government hope that the stakeholders involved in the protocol will continue to work together to help the FCA monitor the market and drive best practice in the sector.

Equitable Life Assurance Society: Compensation

Graham Brady: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many appeals have been made to the Equitable Life Payment Scheme on the level of compensation offered since the scheme began making payments.

Andrea Leadsom: Of the 495 cases submitted to the Independent Review Panel to date, 145 were classified as being about the level of payment received.

Financial Services

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 13 September 2013, Official Report, column 914W, on financial services, what progress has been made on the continuation of money transfer services by UK banks; what recent discussions he has had with international partners and regulators on this matter; and if he will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom: The Government are committed to supporting a healthy and legitimate remittance sector, and ensuring that UK citizens are able to continue to remit funds safely to family abroad. The Action Group on Cross Border Remittances has been established in accordance with the written ministerial statement laid before Parliament on 10 October 2013. The Action Group includes representatives of UK banks, the private sector, anti-money laundering supervisors, civil society and international partners.
	Three Action Group meetings have taken place and a number of streams of work are under way; the Action Group is monitoring changes to the market, developing guidance for money service businesses (MSBs) and banks, promoting a shared understanding of risk and developing a ‘Safer Corridor’ pilot for Somalia. We are also co-ordinating with international partners through the G20 framework.
	You may wish to keep up to date with the work of the Action Group by visiting its web page:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/helping-developing-countries-economies-to-grow/supporting-pages/enabling-the-continued-flow-of-remittances

Highways Agency

Richard Burden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Highways Agency will be able to recover VAT in the same way as it can as an Executive agency of his Department when it is transformed into a Government-owned company.

David Gauke: Special provisions apply to Government Departments and health authorities that enable them to recover VAT incurred on certain of their non-business activities. These are set out in section 41(3) of the VAT Act 1994.
	New bodies are not automatically covered by the above provisions, but the Treasury keeps all taxes under review.

VAT

David Blunkett: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will review the applicability of VAT to vouchers for spectacles and other prescriptions under the voucher scheme; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: The NHS optical voucher scheme provides financial support by way of a voucher to eligible persons to help them buy goods such as spectacles. The vouchers are simply a means of financial support; the VAT consequences result from the goods and services that the voucher is used to buy. Therefore, VAT exemption will apply to the eye test, fitting services and any medical treatment of an eye condition and VAT will apply to the spectacles, irrespective of how payment is made.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Brighton

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will bring forward proposals to relocate (a) staff and (b) offices of his Department to Brighton; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Penning: At the present time, there are no plans to relocate (a) departmental staff and (b) offices to Brighton.

Children: Maintenance

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what powers the Child Maintenance Service has to address non-compliance by employers with a notice of deduction of earnings; and how many cases have there been of such non-compliance in each of the last three years.

Steve Webb: It is a criminal offence under section 32(8) of the Child Support Act 1991 not to comply with a deduction from earnings order. Failure to comply may result in enforcement action being taken against the employer, which can include a fine of up to £500.
	The 2012 child maintenance scheme, administered by the Child Maintenance Service, was opened to all new applicants on 25 November 2013. We are not yet in a position to release full statistics for this scheme. When 2012 system data become available and fully assured they will be released as part of a managed process, which will be pre-announced and in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.
	With regard to cases on the 1993 and 2003 schemes operated by the Child Support Agency (CSA), it is not possible to specify the exact number of instances of non-compliance with these orders. This is due to the fact that while data are collected on the numbers of deduction from earnings orders not receiving payment, this can be for reasons other than non-compliance, including time delays of the employer implementing the request and the time to action a change in employment circumstances.
	However, information on the number of prosecutions under section 32(8) of the Child Support Act 1991 in cases on the 1993 and 2003 schemes can be found on page 48 of the CSA Quarterly Summary of Statistics at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/child-support-agency-quarterly-summary-statistics-december-2013

Employment Schemes: Disability

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people on Work Choice are in receipt of (a) jobseeker's allowance and (b) employment and support allowance.

Esther McVey: The requested information is already published and can be found within table 5 on page 16 of the latest publication at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/277235/work-choice-statistics-feb-2014.pdf

Employment Schemes: Disability

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people on (a) employment and support allowance and (b) jobseeker's allowance have moved from the Work programme to Work Choice since June 2011.

Esther McVey: The information requested is not available.

New Enterprise Allowance

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of those benefiting from the new enterprise allowance are (a) women and (b) men aged (i) up to 24 and (ii) over 25.

Esther McVey: The information requested is routinely published and can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pre-work-programme-support-new-enterprise-allowance-march-2014

Universal Credit

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many universal credit budgeting advances were made between April 2013 and April 2014.

Esther McVey: Budgeting support is available at the start of a universal credit claim. The requested information is not currently available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of sanction referrals made by Work programme providers to a decision maker in his Department have led to (a) a sanction being applied and (b) no sanction being applied.

Esther McVey: Information on the outcomes of decisions resulting from referrals for a sanction for failure to participate in the Work programme is published and can be found at:
	https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
	Guidance for users is available at:
	https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Stat-Xplore_User_Guide.htm
	Note that the published data are based on decisions and therefore do not show referrals where no decision has been made.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average period is between a sanction referral being made by a Work programme provider and a sanction being applied to the jobseeker.

Esther McVey: The time taken for a sanction decision to be made following receipt from a Work programme provider can vary depending upon the type of referral and the need to obtain further information from the claimant. We do not measure the time taken to clear these referrals; therefore the information requested is not available.